Unity crucial in council upheavals, say Māori staff
Māori council staff say meeting face-to-face is crucial to deal with a turbulent and disruptive shake-up of local government that has weakened mana whenua influence.
Taituarā – the organisation for local government officers – meets in New Plymouth this week and Māori council workers arrived early to get their programme underway.
Nedine Thatcher-Swan is Gisborne District Council’s chief executive and chairs Taituarā’s Māori board, Te Ranga Ahurangi.
She said Māori staff from across the country hadn't met in several years, and that was an obvious gap as the Government drives through huge reforms in local government.
“We are in really tumultuous and turbulent times – the change has been hard and fast and disruptive.”
Thatcher-Swan pointed to the Government reinstating referendums to remove Māori wards, its u-turn to strike out Mana Whakahono ā Rohe agreements and the focus on private property rights in laws replacing the Resource Management Act.
“It has been a gradual eroding of Māori input and participation in policy development and … [more recently] unelected members not being able to participate, which is obviously directed towards Māori participation.”
With morale and confidence patchy across the motu, Thatcher-Swan said Māori staff were meeting to influence and improve the effect of the changes.
“We need to kind of come together as kaimahi Māori in local government and whakapiki our wairua (raise out spirits), share our stories… where we can be, sit, kōrero, wānanga, and try to find some solutions.”
Taituarā’s chief operating officer Mereana Beconcini said reform of councils and resource management law was “massive” and Māori staff needed to back each other.
“Sometimes you're in a little bit of a silo, especially in some of the smaller councils.
“You don't really have a tira (close group) behind you… and so they're feeling a lot of pressure and non-support at the moment.”
Wellington City Council chief adviser Gabrielle Paringatai-Lemisio said Māori staff had a specific role to play in the reforms, and unity “is really important right now”.
“The sharing of mātauranga, of knowledge, of strategies – but also just having a chance and opportunity to feel as a unit, as a collective, feel and empathise with each other.”
The hui for 100 Māori staff, Te Kāhui Ahunuku, officially took place on Tuesday but many arrived a day early for a history and culture tour of Ngāmotu district.
New Plymouth District Council’s iwi relationship team kaiāwhina Anaru Wilkie hosted the tour, including a pōwhiri at Muru Raupatu marae.
Wilkie said so much reform in such a limited time was concerning and Māori staff were also weathering a “culture war”.
He said the hui would help council officers see “through the weeds” to focus on good governance and democracy.
“It's learning from each other what works in your region that can be duplicated or shared, and then how we ensure that we get a better balance of equity of power-sharing in our democratic process”
Council chief executives and senior managers have separate forums on Wednesday, before 300 council officers meet for the full Taituarā annual conference on Thursday and Friday.
Resource management reform minister Chris Bishop gives the final address on Friday afternoon.
In April Bishop said Mana Whakahono ā Rohe would carry over into new resource management laws, as councils had found early iwi involvement avoided later delays and costs.
But in July he announced Mana Whakahono had since become too popular so would not survive reforms, instead being replaced by "new narrowly scoped iwi participation agreements".
nā Craig Ashworth craig@tekorimako.co.nz
LDR is local democracy journalism hosted by Te Korimako o Taranaki and funded by Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa and Irirangi te Motu
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